I went to the beach Sunday with Saffie, spent the night at my parents' condo, and came back Monday.

Saff was excited as always to get into the car with Mom. We drove about an hour, down to the park where they allow dogs on the beach. The gate attendant gave her a biscuit. :) We parked, and started the trip on the boardwalk to the beach.

That's Saffie going "I can't WAIT come ON come ON let's GO!"

We got down to the beach, and it was beautiful. White sand, blue water... a gorgeous day. We walked to the tide's edge, where Saffie got her first look at the big blue wet thing.

We went towards it. Her feet were wet, but she didn't seem to mind.

Suddenly ACK! A WAVE! It startled her, especially when they kept coming.

Saff: I'm getting out of here! Wetness!

We persevered, though, wading in again.

We went in up to her chest! Waves hit her in the face, which surprised her, but after a bit she realized that the white water rolling in meant 'Jump!' She managed to leap a few. :) She shook herself off while in the water. It didn't stop her being wet. I don't think she understood why.

It only took a few minutes, and she was sick of it. We waded back out, and then some beach cop or citizen beach cop, don't know which, told me that dogs weren't allowed on that beach. I was confused. The guard gave her a treat! But he said the dog beach was further down, and if we stayed there we'd get a $50 fine. So we got back onto the boardwalk and headed back to the car.

Right by the car was the best. surprise. ever. At least for Saffie.

Saff: MOM! MOM! IT'S A THING! I HAVE TO SEE THE THING!

The tortoise tried to book it out of there when it saw her coming. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but I was trying to juggle a determined little pit bull and the camera. Anyway, she came up on it too fast, so it hid in its shell. But it hissed every time she came near its head. I didn't know tortoises hissed. That was awesome.

It hissed one too many times for Saffie, and she started barking at it. That was when I decided we'd had enough. This is me trying to pull her back.

Saffie: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

At that time I noticed a family of four who were having a great time watching Saffie's antics with the tortoise, which cracked me up. Once Saffie was well away, the tortoise poked his head out, turned around and gave her this look. Like "HA, I beat you, bitch!" She was whining unbelievably, but we got into the car. The tortoise wandered around eating grass with a self-satisfied look. I tried to get a picture, but the card was full. So I started going back and figuring out what pictures I could delete, and deleting them (it takes a long time; this camera is like six years old), and meanwhile Saffie is crawling up onto the dashboard and SCREAMING to get at the turtle. Man, I should've been less responsible and let her at it. I was afraid it might bite her, though. But she probably couldn't have hurt it, and even if she'd tried to bite the shell, it probably would've just peed on her. Turtle pee=comedy gold.

So anyway, we drove further down, where there was in fact a beach with other dogs. This beach was not nearly as nice as the other one.

Really. I have never in my life seen a rocky beach in Florida. WTF? The water was murky, the sand was gray, and overall it was kinda crummy.

We went down to the water, but Saff didn't want to go in very far. I didn't blame her. We were hot and sandy and salty, and if she was feeling as crummy as I was, we weren't having much fun. She did meet another dog, which licked her chin, proving that she was dominant, so she was fine with him. :) We then met another pit bull. The two carefully sniffed each others' necks, then he lunged and she lunged back a split second later. It took us a couple seconds to pull them apart. I don't know if anything happened to the other dog, but Saffie got a cut on her chin, and a chunk of her gum ripped. It was her first battle wound. As battle wounds go, it wasn't that bad. And since the other dog was also a pit, there was no "OMG YOUR VICIOUS DOG ATTACKED MINE!"

I washed off some of the blood, and decided that blood meant time to go. So we went to Mom & Dad's, which is this gorgeous condo they bought years ago, right on the beach. They aren't super-rich, they just bought before prices went insane. Anyway, we washed Saffie off in the car wash bay of the parking garage, where she whined as if we were torturing her. She almost got away from me a couple times, all over soap. Crazy girl. :)

We rinsed and dried her, and Dad took her upstairs while I parked, came in, and SHOWERED OMG. Sweat, sand, salt water-- ugh. Saffie kept drinking water the entire day-- she must've had a gallon, seriously. Okay, half gallon. Anyway, she had to go pee like every hour. :) The elevator fascinated her. She had a ball going up and down.

Here's the view from the condo balcony:

Closer up:

Barely anyone there, even on Labor Day. I love the quiet beach.

When we came home, Saffie went straight to her bed and stayed there. I think she's a little weirded out by new places, even with Mom there. We probably won't be taking her to the beach again, since she really doesn't enjoy the water. But it was fun to try.

I saw a dog that could have been Saffie's twin tonight in NYC - but he/she didn't want to make friends. I love the pics - and fyi, I had a Lab who hated the rain - we used to have to hold the umbrella over her to take her out, and force her into the tub for baths.....

Saffie's a cutie and it looks like she had a decent time even though she didn't really enjoy the water. My pit bull doesn't love the water, but my other dog does. But even WaterDog was intimidated by waves. Still, they enjoyed the beach because there were SO many interesting smells, and I enjoy the beach because I enjoy the beach.